Read Ebook: The Story Teller of the Desert—Backsheesh! or Life and Adventures in the Orient by Knox Thomas Wallace

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From the Gates of Jerusalem to Bethlehem--A Touching Incident--Tent-Life at Bethlehem--The Milk Grotto--Its Miraculous Character--The "Doubter" Expresses Himself--The Oldest Christian Church in the World--Quarrelsome Monks--A Deadly Fight--Remarkable Conduct of the "Doubter"--Pious Pilgrims--A Christmas Festival--A Corpulent and Hospitable Monk--A Wearisome Ceremony--The Monks in Costume--The Women of Bethlehem--A Bevy of Beauties--Under Guard--Armenian Soldiers--Travelling to Saba--Among the Monks--A Curious Convent--Armed against the Bedouins,..........398

Sleeping under Tents--A Bedouin Encampment--A howl for "Backsheesh" --A Queer Crowd--An Illusion Dispelled--An Eccentric "Rooster"--Our Guard--A Little bit of Humbug--"Going for" the "Doubter"--A Case of Blackmail--On Guard against Robbers--A Protection from the Sheik--Thievery as a Profession--Waters without Life--A Curious Bath--A Flood of Gold--The "Doubter" in a Rain Storm--A Dangerous Ford--A Nocturnal Mishap--An Atrocious Robbery--The "Doubter" once more in Trouble--A Turkish Escort--Falling among Thieves--The Judge's Opinion on Shrinkage--The "Doubter" in the Role of a Mummy,..........413

A Snow-storm in Jerusalem--The "Doubter's" Opinion of Gum-Shoes--Kicked by a Vicious Horse--An Obliging Moslem--A Guard of Turks--Bloodthirsty Christians--An Extraordinary Shrine--The Angel's Seat--The Quarrels of the Greek and Latin Monks--A Spot of Marvels--The Soil Pressed by the Feet of Christ--Strange Traditions--The Discovery of the True Cross--The Spot where Peter Denied his Lord--The Scene of the Last Supper--What a Wealthy Jew Did--The Man who was his own Father--The "Good Thief"--Extracting Sixpence from the "Doubter"--A Pertinacious Guide--Trying to Elude Pursuit--A Claim for Damages--Loading Up with Oranges--Talking in Four Languages,..........425

In Sight of Egypt--A Light-house looming through the Fog--On the Soil of the Pharaohs--An Invasion of Boatmen--Scenes in the Streets of Port Said--Encore de "Backsheesh"--The Great Suez Canal--Negotiations with a Cobbler--A Ludicrous Situation--A Bootless Customer--Egyptian Jugglers--Going through the Market--A Disagreeable Spectacle--A Pocket Steamer--Drinking to Absent Friends--On the "Raging Canawl"--Sleeping on Deck--A Sunrise in the Desert--On the Summit of the Isthmus--An Onslaught by Arab Baggage-smashers,..........440

A Costly Breakfast--Ismailia--The Palace of the Khedive--On an Egyptian Railroad Train--Rolling Through the Desert--The Delta of the Nile, What Is It?--The Garden of Egypt--Cairo--The Mighty Pyramids--Life at an Egyptian Hotel--Sights of the Capital--Cairo of To-Day--Occidental Progress and Oriental Conservatism--Burglaries and Other Modern Improvements--Cosmopolitan Costumes--A Harem Taking an Airing--A Daring Robbery--The Battle-Field of the Pyramids--Slaughter of the Mamelukes--Singular Escape of Emir Bey,..........446

The Khedive, who is he?--A Hard-worked Pasha--His Personal Habits--My Interview with Him--Adventures of an Old Hat--Arranging Ourselves for a Royal Reception--An Eastern Monarch in a European Dress--An Unimpeachable Costume--A Fluent Talker--Bedouin Reporters--A Carriage from the Harem--Two Pair of Bright Eyes--Unveiling the Women--A Talk with a Couple of Pigmies--A Nation of Dwarf-Warriors--My Impressions of the Khedive,...........457

Cairo, Old and New--A Visit to the Ancient City--The Nilometer, what is it? Measuring the Rise of the Nile--Moses in the Bulrushes--Tombs of the Caliphs--An Egyptian Funeral--Curious Customs--"Crowding the Mourners"--Water-carriers and their Ways--A Noisy Tobacco-vender--Glimpses of the Arabian Nights--Among the Bazaars--Street Scenes in Cairo--A Cavalcade of Donkeys--Hoaxing a Donkey-boy--Amusing Spectacle--Putting Up a Ride at Auction--An Arab Story--A Nation of Liars, and why?--Mosques of Cairo--Stones from the Great Pyramid,..........468

More about the Bazaars--how they Sell Goods in Cairo--Furniture, Fleas, and Filth--Trading in Pipe-stems and Coffee-pots--A Queer Collection of Bric-a-Brac--Driving Close Bargains--A Specimen of Yankee Shrewdness--A Miniature Blacksmith Shop--A Cloud of Perfumes--Gems, Guns, and Damascus Blades--An Arabian Auction--At the Egyptian Opera--The Dancing Girls of Cairo--The Ladies from the Harem--A Scanty Costume--The Ballet of the "Prodigal Son"--The Ladies of the Opera and their Life,..........478

A "Syce" what is he?--A Man with a Queer Dress and Large Calves--A Gorgeous Turnout--An Escort of Eunuchs--Veiled Beauties--A Flirtation and it Consequences--The Tale of a Dropped Handkerchief--The Donkey as a National Beast--A Tricky Brute and an Agile Driver--An Upset in the Mud--Astonishing the Natives--A Specimen of Arabic Wit--Going to the Races--The Grand Stand--A Dromedary Race--An Aristocratic Camel--The Arrival of the Khedive--Starting Up the Dromedaries--Cutting an Empress,..........488

CHAP XL--THE PASHA AND HIS PRIESTS--EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE--SCHOOLS AND RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES.

Egypt and her Relations with Turkey--The Army and Navy--Egyptian History Boiled Down--The Reigning Family--Wonderful Relics--Mohammed Ali as a Ruler--The Pasha and the Priests--Ordering a Wedding--Married on Short Notice--Gratifying the Empress Eugenie--An Arab School-room--A College with Nine Thousand Students--A Jaw-Breaking Language--How to Indite an Epistle in Arabic--The Caravan to Mecca--Going on a Pilgrimage--A Horrible Ceremony--Trampling on Dervishes--The "Bride of the Nile"--Extraordinary Customs,..........499

CHAP XLI--THE GREAT PYRAMIDS--IN THE KINGS' BURIAL CHAMBERS.

A Visit to the great Pyramids--A Fellah not a Fellow--Sakkiehs and Shadoofs--A File of Camels and Donkeys--A Striking Spectacle--A Horde of Arabs--Troublesome Customers--The great Pyramid--How we Climbed It--A Giant Stairway--Dimensions Extraordinary--The Lost Arts--Standing on the Summit--The Judge's Predicament--Arab Cormorants--What we Saw from the Top of the great Pyramid--Wonderful Contrasts--Performance of an Arabian Acrobat--A Race down the Pyramid Stairs--A Perilous Descent--Penetrating the Interior--The King's Chamber--A Dusty Receptacle of Coffins--The Sphinx--A Mysterious Statue,..........513

CHAP XLII--A VOYAGE UP THE NILE.--THE MYSTERIES OF EGYPTIAN ART AND WORSHIP.

Up the Nile in a Sail-Boat--Starting for the Cataracts--Advantages of a Dragoman--A Tricky Lot--Frauds on Travellers--Our Party--Rather Cosmopolitan--Getting Ahead of Mr. Cook--Our Little Game, and How it Worked--A Bath with Spectators--Decidedly Cool--Getting Aground--A Picturesque Landscape--Last Glimpse of the Pyramids--Spending Night on Shore--Among the Ruins of Memphis--The Wonders of Egyptian Art--What Marrielte Bey Discovered--Laying Bare a Mysterious Sepulchre--Ancient Egyptian Worship--Sacred Bulls and Beetles--A History Written in Stone--Bricks Made by the Israelites,..........529

Through an Arab Village--Creating a Sensation--The "Doubter" Alarmed--The Professor Perpetrates a Hoax--The Egyptian Saratoga--An Oriental Post-office--A Queer Town--Specimens of Ancient Art--A Wooden Statue Three Thousand Years Old--A Coptic Convent--"Backsheesh, Howadji!"--Carrying Money in their Mouths--Sturdy Beggars--An Expert Swimmer--The Copts, who are they? Skilful Swindlers--Sugar Mills on the Banks of the Nile--Egyptian Jugglers--A Snake-Charmer--Adroit Thieves--A Melancholy Experience in Donkey-riding,.........542

CHAP XLIV--ADVENTURES IN UPPER EGYPT.--FUN AND FROLIC WITH THE NATIVES.

Siout, the Capital of Upper Egypt--The Pasha's Palace--An Egyptian Market Day--A Swift Boat--Going the rounds on a Donkey--Town Scenes--The Bazaars--Buying a Donkey--Tinkers, Peddlers, and Cobblers at work--A Curiosity Shop--Three Card Monte in the Land of the Pharaohs--Fighting the Tiger--The Professor takes a Hand--An Ignominious Defeat--A Doleful Tale--A River where the Wind is always Fair--The Temple and Tablet of Abydos--"Backsheesh" as a Medicine--Arab Villages in an Inundation--The Garden of the Valley--Fun with the Natives--A constant resource for a Practical Joker--Scrambling for Money--A Severe Joke,...........554

CHAP XLV--THE DANCING GIRLS OF KENEH.--THE TREASURES OF DENDERAH.

The Dates and Dancing Girls of Keneh--The Alma and the Ghawazee--The Dalilahs of Cairo--Going to the Dance Hall--An Outlandish Orchestra--The Drapery of the Dancers--The Cairo Wriggle--Curious Posturing--A Weird Scene-Dress and Undress--Miracles of Motion--A F?te at the German Consulate--Models for Painters and Sculptors--Arab and Nubian Nymphs--The Temple of Denderah--History Hewn in Stone--Cleopatra and her Portrait--The Fatal Asp--A Bit of Doggerel--The Coins of Old Egypt--The Professor's Bargain--Digging for Treasure--Arrival at Luxor--Taking in Strangers,...........568

CHAP XLVI--LUXOR, THE CITY OF GIANTS--AMONG THE MUMMIES OF ANCIENT THEBES.

Luxor on the Site of Ancient Thebes--A City with a Hundred Gates--Enjoying a Consul's Hospitality--An American Citizen of African Descent--A Dignified Rhinoceros--Karnak--A City of Wonders--Promenading in an Avenue of Sphinxes--A Gigantic Temple--Monster Obelisks--A Story in Stone--A Statue Weighing Nine Hundred Tons--The Sitting Colossi--A Singing Statue--Mysteries of Priestcraft--Lunching in the Tomb of Rameses--A Wonderful Treasure--How They Made Mummies--A Curious Process--The "Doubter" and the Mummy Sellers--The Judge Comes to Grief,..........585

How they made the Royal Coffins--Splitting Blocks of Stones with Wooden Wedges--An Ingenious Device--A Ride on a Camel--A Beast indulging in Familiarities--Lunching on Trowsers--Mounting in the Saddle--Curious Sensation--An Interesting Brute--A Camel Solo--Sitting in a Dish--Camel-Riding in a Gymnastic Point of View--Secondary Effects--Nubian Ferry-Boats--P. T. and his Paint-Pot--Labors of an Enthusiastic American--Mr. Tucker on his Travels--"A Human Donkey"--Visiting the Cataract--Paying Toll to a Sheik--The Professor and his Camel--Crocodiles of the Nile--Starting Back to Cairo,.........612

The Egyptian Slave Trade--How carried on--An Army of Kidnappers--A Slave King--Frightful Scenes--Sir Samuel Baker's Expedition--A Shrewd Move--Breech-loaders as Civilizing Agents--A Missionary Outfit--Starting for the Slave Country--Reluctant Allies--The "Forty Thieves"--Running against a Snag--The Sacred Egyptian Flower--The Lotos-Eaters, Who were They?--The New York Lotophagi--The Papyrus or Vegetable Paper--Capturing a Cargo of Slaves--The Plague of Flies--A few more "likely Niggers"--Marrying by Wholesale--A Fight with the Natives--The Result of the Expedition,..........623

CHAP L--SUNSET IN THE ORIENT.--VOYAGING DOWN THE NILE.

An Egyptian Sunset--A Gorgeous Spectacle--The Sky that bends above the Nile--Singular Atmospheric Phenomena--A Picture for an Artist--Shadows from History--Napoleon and the Pyramids--Our Voyage Back to Cairo--Scenes by the Way--"Cook's Tourists"--An Amusing Sight--Night-Fall on the Nile--A Flame of Rockets--"What does it Mean?"--The Marriage of the Khedive's Son--Feminine Disappointment--Jumping Ashore--Aboard of Donkeys--Gustave's Somersault--Practical Sympathy--In the Pasha's Garden--A Magnificent Sight--The Wedding Pageant--Elbowing an Arab Crowd--A Pyrotechnic Shower,.........637

CHAP LI--THE WEDDING OF THE KHEDIVE'S SON.--ENJOYING A MONARCH'S HOSPITALITY.

CHAP LII--WOMEN AMONG THE MOHAMMEDANS.--LIFE IN THE HAREM.

Winter in Egypt--A soft and balmy air--A Rainstorm on the Nile--An Asylum for Invalids--The Month of Flowers--The "Khamseen," What is it?--A blast as from a Furnace--Singular effects of the South Wind--A Sun like Copper and a Sky like Brass--A cloud of Sand--Eating Dirt--Fleeing from the Khamseen--How the Laboring Classes Live--Hungry but not Cold--Oriental Houses--An Excursion to Heliopolis--Habits of the Bedouins--A Fastidious People--Life in a Bedouin Encampment--Among the Obelisks--How they were brought Five Hundred Miles--The Madonna-Tree,...........667

CHAP LIV--LAST DAYS IN EGYPT.

The Last Stroll around the Mooskee--Talking to the Donkey-Boys and Dragomen--A Queer Lot--A Pertinacious Customer--The Judge's Expedient--A Little Humbug--Rich American Tourists "in a Horn"--The Dragoman's Salutation "Sing Sing!"--Getting Rid of a Nuisance--Buying Keepsakes--Out of the Desert into a Garden--Curiosities for Farmers--A Mohammedan Festival--Curious Sights--Snake Charmers--How they do it--Music-Loving Reptiles--On an Egyptian Railroad--Pompey's Pillar--A Ludicrous Accident--Alexandria, its Sights and Scenes--Climbing Pompey's Pillar--A Daring Sailor--An Arab Swindle--Going on Board the Steamer--Farewell to Egypt,...........678

BACKSHEESH.

"B A C K S H E E S H."

NEVER have I sailed out of New-York harbor on a finer day than when, in the spring of 1873, I started on that pilgrimage of which this book is to be the record.

It was late in April, the sky was clear, and the atmosphere had that balmy softness which we find in the tropics much oftener than in more northern latitudes. Looking up the Hudson and down the widening estuary toward Staten Island, one could see a delicate haze that skirted the horizon and faintly mellowed the lines that otherwise might have presented a suggestion of harshness. The picturesque life of the harbor was at its fullest activity; ocean and river steamers were moving here and there, and white-winged ships coming home from long voyages or going out to battle with the winds and waves, were in the grasp of powerful tugs that fumed and fretted as they ploughed the waters with their helpless charges. Thousands of smaller craft dotted and stippled the beautiful bay which is the pride and glory of the commercial metropolis of America; and the forest of masts hanging over the wharves at the city's edge spread its leafless limbs in liberal profusion.

There was the usual crowd of friends to bid farewell to our passengers; and the parting cheer, as we steamed out from our dock, rang in our ears long after the spire of Trinity had disappeared, and the protruding front of Castle Garden had been lost in the distance. There was only the gentlest breeze to ruffle the water as we pushed oceanward and caught sight of the blue line of sea and sky that formed the eastern horizon. We watched the sun declining in the west, bringing the Highlands of Neversink into bold relief; our steady progress left the land each moment more and more indistinct, till, at last, day and land faded away together. We were out on the ocean, and the world was become to us small indeed.

An Atlantic trip is not considered in these days a very serious affair. There are persons who persist in speaking of the ocean as a ferry, with no more terror than the North or East River. It may be a good joke to call it a ferry, but it is rather a solemn joke when you have been at sea a couple of weeks and have experienced a few gales.

The day we sailed the water was as smooth as a mill-pond, and it remained so for about thirty-six hours. In the room next to me there was a judge from New Jersey; a jolly, good-natured old boy, whose face was a pleasure to contemplate. The first day out, he told me he was agreeably surprised with the ocean, and that he should have brought his wife along if he had supposed it would be so comfortable.

"People do exaggerate so," said he, "that you never know what to believe. They have told me that the ocean was terribly rough, and that I should be very sick; but I see it was all a mistake Why, I have seen it worse than this going from New York to Staten Island."

And the Judge! I paid him a visit when the storm was at its worst, and his condition was such as to rouse in my breast mingled sentiments of pleasure and sorrow. He was lying on the sofa, and his right hand convulsively clutched a basin into which he was pouring the contents of his stomach.

"What a fool a man is to come to sea," he gasped in the intervals of his wretchedness. "I was an idiot not to have gone travelling in Pennsylvania, instead of coming out here. I would give a thousand dollars to be safe back in New York."

I endeavored to console him, but he would not be comforted. While I poured soothing words into his ear, and brandy down his throat, the ship gave an extra lurch that brought a fresh discharge from the Judge's mouth. Something dark and solid fell into the basin, and as the Judge contemplated it, his face assumed an expression of horror.

"I will be hanged," said he, "if I have not thrown up a piece of my liver; just look at it; everything inside of me will be up next. In fifteen minutes you can look for my toe-nails."

He sank back fainting, but brightened up a little when I told him that what he supposed to be his liver was nothing more than a piece of corned beef which he swallowed at dinner and his stomach had failed to digest.

He grew better next day, but persisted in declaring the ocean a humbug, and said that when he once got back, nothing should tempt him to come abroad again.

People are differently affected by the ocean. Some are never sea-sick, while others can never go on the water without being laid up. I have known persons who kept their rooms an entire voyage; they went below when leaving land on one side, and did not come out again till it was sighted on the other. Women are the weaker vessels, when it comes to an ocean experience, however strong they may be in domestic griefs and family jars. In sea-sickness, they fall much sooner than men, and are slower to recover their appetites. Children recover more quickly than adults, and sometimes they are well and running about long before their parents are able to get away with a cup of tea or a cracker.

To those who contemplate going to sea, I have a piece of advice to offer that may save them the pangs of the marine malady.

The night before you are to sail, take a blue pill--ten grains--just before going to bed, and when you get up in the morning take, the first thing, a dose of citrate of magnesia. Then eat your breakfast and go on board, and I will wager four to one, that you will not be sea-sick a moment, though the water may be as rough as an Arkansas traveller's manners.

The above prescription was given to me several years ago, and I have rigidly followed it every time I have gone to sea since I received it. It has saved me from sea-sickness, and it has been of equal value to many others, to whom I have given it. I have published it several times for the benefit of the human race, and I think it worth giving again.

Sea-sickness is a dreadful feeling, and anything that can be expected to prevent it is worth trying. I remember the first time I was sea-sick, I wanted to be thrown overboard, and didn't care what became of me. If the ship had sunk beneath me I should have been glad instead of sorry; and if the captain had threatened to tie me up and give me forty lashes, I should not have made the slightest opposition to the execution of his threat. If the Koh-i-noor diamond had been lying ten yards from me, and had been offered me on condition that I should pick it up, I couldn't have stirred an inch to get it. The death of a maiden aunt, from whom I had great expectations, would have failed to elate me, and the refusal of my hand by an heiress to a million would have caused me no regret. Nothing can bring perfect despair so readily as sea-sickness, and make its victim ready and willing to die. Somebody has said that in the first hour of his sea-sickness he feared he should die; but in the second hour he was afraid he should not; and that is pretty nearly the experience of every sufferer.

You have heard of the man who wanted to thrash the fellow who wrote "A Life on the Ocean Wave." I think there were several on board our ship who agreed with him, and would bear a hand to assist him. Somebody has written--and his head was not unlevel--

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